An Egyptian soldier has been shot dead on the border with the Gaza Strip during a Palestinian protest against measures introduced by Egypt to combat smuggling.

The government in Cairo is constructing an underground steel wall to prevent tunnels being used for smuggling weapons and goods from Egypt into Gaza. Eyewitnesses say Palestinian protesters shot at the Egyptian border guards and that four Palestinians were injured in the ensuing exchange of fire.

Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade of Gaza since the territory came under the administration of the radical Islamic Hamas movement in 2007. Hundreds of tunnels running from the Egyptian side of the border are used to beat the blockade. Egypt began building the underground wall a month ago under pressure from the United States and Israel.

photo: Gaza tunnel (flickr.com/anarkistix)